In the art of vascular surgery it is often desired to remove the inner layer which is fatty in nature from a vessel without cutting the vessel entirely through at a certain point but nevertheless cutting the inner layer to such a degree that at a point some distance away the blood vessel can be opened and the inner sleeve so to speak can be pulled out of the vessel.
In an effort to solve this problem applicant began experiments in the design of an instrument which would meet this need since no device was presently available to enable vascular surgeons like himself to perform this frequently needed procedure. The first step that the method requires is a holding in place of the blood vessel at the spot selected for the internal fracture of the inner layer of the blood vessel. This was achieved by the creation of a guillotine-like arrangement with an upper anvil member which contained a dull blade resting on one side of the blood vessel and a hammer-like opposing jaw which held the blood vessel therebetween. The next problem was to apply only that pressure to the pincers of the guillotine that would be sufficient to cut the softer inner layer of the blood vessel but leave intact the tougher outer muscular layer of the blood vessel. This was achieved by positioning two springs around a central rod or core which connected to the hammer member of the guillotine on one end and a pressure retaining handle on the other. When these springs were first impressed by sliding them toward the guillotine hammer and then suddenly released to snap back an impact sharply against a protuberance of the rod, the shock wave generated was transmitted down the rod and into the hammer with only sufficient momentum to cause a controlled cutting or severance of the vessel. Therefore as a result of this process of thought and design there was created a new instrument which shall be described in greater detail by the following written description and reference to the several drawings and pictorial representations of the device. The several objects of the invention will become clear from a reading of the specification and need not be more specifically elaborated at this point although it should be pointed out that a surgical method as well as a new surgical instrument comprises the subject matter of this invention.